Tanglewood Park

An estimated 300,000 visitors converged at Tanglewood Park for the 2001 Festival of Lights as the event celebrated its 10th Anniversary and honored those who died on September 11, 2001.

In 1757, just four years after the Moravian settlement of the Wachovia Tract in the nearby communities of Bethabara and Salem, Johnson purchased the mile square central portion of the present property from the Ellis family to whom the land was deeded in 1753 by Lord William Linville.

The Ellis family leased the land for a short time "for five shillings lawful money of Great Britain in hand a yearly rent of one peppercorn payment at the Feast of Saint Michael, the archangel".

After obtaining the property, Johnson built a fort overlooking the Yadkin River to protect his family and neighbors from attacks during the French and Indian War.

Mr. Will, as he was called, raised and raced Standardbred harness horses and established Tanglewood Farm as a home to some of the country's finest pacers.

Mr. Will's wife, Kate, a horticultural enthusiast, began the extensive native and ornamental plantings at Tanglewood and employed German master gardener, Mr. Frank Lustig, who continued her plans and his life's work.

At the time, Will Reynolds specified it was to be used only for the benefit of white citizens or its ownership would revert to his heirs, so it opened in 1954 as a segregated park.

[2] When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it difficult to continue operating under those terms, the park closed its Manor House, pool, theater, motel, and restaurant.

A federal court case forced desegregation of the park in 1971, which reverted its ownership to the Reynolds family, who leased it to a nonprofit before finally selling it to Forsyth County in 1976.